Solar panels have been used for quite some time in private and home settings. They’re used to heat swimming pools and are very popular with recreational vehicle and sailboat owners to trickle charge their batteries.

But what about our gadgets? We have a shocking array of gadgetry in our lives and it would seem to make sense to power this stuff up with some free sunlight. Is this a good idea — and more importantly — will it work? Let’s look at a couple of current cutting edge examples.

The Voltaic Generator Solar Laptop Charger

More than a just a laptop bag, this bag from Voltaic Systems has solar cells and a battery for your laptop. The concept is great. You let your bag capture juice from the sun and you will have a never ending stream of free and clean battery power for your laptop. While this idea is a good one, is it ready for prime time?

How often will users be carrying their laptop and/or bag outside in the direct sunlight that these cells require? This is a sturdy and well built bag, sure, but let’s say that the applications for use seem to be very “niche” at the moment.

It takes 5 hours to charge the battery. Is it a good idea to leave a $500 bag out in the sun unattended? The battery is equivalent to a “small” laptop battery. Small in this case can be defined as “short-lasting.” In real life use you won’t get enough energy to keep your laptop going for long. If you’re wanting to store energy for your iPod or other smaller device, this technology is more practical but for a full size laptop it falls short.

Solar Charged Camera Strap

People are most often outside when they are carrying and using their cameras. Now here’s an idea. Take advantage of being outside by adding solar cells to your camera strap. This strap, assuming it trickles enough energy, sounds like a great idea for keeping those camera batteries topped up while in use.

Even if you have to give your batteries periodic drain and charge cyles for maintenance, you could use this to provide some piece of mind while you’re on vacation, at work or wherever your camera takes you.

The Path to Illumination

Maybe the solution is not ideal at present but the path is a good one. If we can start with providing our smaller, less power-hungry electronics with clean solar energy, that will undoubtably lead to more research, innovation and useful applications which will not just benefit our need for gadgets but our need for actual energy solutions.